A printing and imaging device has been diversified. The printing and imaging device widely used at present includes an ink jet printer, a laser printer, an LED printer, a needle printer, a thermal printer and so on. In a process of printing, the printing and imaging device will consume a coloring material such as ink or toner, and the coloring material is normally placed in a consumable cartridge to be supplemented or replaced conveniently.
A consumable chip is provided on the consumable cartridge, in order to electronically record information such as a source and usage of the consumable cartridge. In this way, in a case that the coloring material in the consumable cartridge is used up, the coloring material can be supplemented by a user by replacing the consumable cartridge. The printing and imaging device reads the information on the consumable chip electronically, so as to update a state of the printing and imaging device timely and automatically without manually entering, by a user, information of the consumable cartridge such as a type and a production date.
In an existing consumable chip, an EPPOM is normally adopted as a memory unit. The printing and imaging device can access or rewrite data in the EPPOM by selectively inputting a voltage source signal or a current source signal to a signal line ID. Since erasure for the EPROM can only be realized by illuminating the EPROM for 20 minutes with ultraviolet light or X-ray, and such an erasure tool is not provided in a printer generally, the printer can only change the data in the consumable chip from “0” to “1”, or in other words, data in each bit of the consumable chip can only be rewritten once. However, in a production process of the consumable chip, once the consumable chip is programmed, it is difficult to modify the consumable chip, e.g., modify a model and a production date of the consumable cartridge. In addition, an erasure process of the EPROM for recycling the consumable chip is time consuming, which results in low recycle efficiency and therefore increased cost.
If a non-volatile memory (for example, a flash memory) easy to be rewritten is adopted as the memory unit in the consumable chip, whether “0” or “1” is read out is represented by the non-volatile memory by outputting a high level or a low level in response to access of the printing and imaging device. The data on the high level or the low level cannot be directly transmitted to the printing and imaging device via the signal line.